


Wake Up and Smell the Lack of Pineapple

by beggar_always



Category: Psych
Genre: Angst, Community: psychflashfic, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-30
Updated: 2009-11-30
Packaged: 2017-10-04 00:48:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beggar_always/pseuds/beggar_always
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It takes Carlton awhile to use his communication skills.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wake Up and Smell the Lack of Pineapple

**Author's Note:**

> For the psychflashfic (on LJ) Challenge # 1: Message. I didn't necessarily mean to use 3 of the 5 methods of communication mentioned in the prompt...it just sort of happened.... Implied Shawn/Carlton but, sadly, it's nothing explicit.

It started with a voicemail: a little symbol waiting for him when he walked out of the gym.

"Detective Lassiter, this is Detective Lewis of the Seattle Police Department. This call is concerning Mr. Shawn Spencer…" Carlton closed his phone with a glare out his windshield.

Whatever Shawn had gotten himself into, Carlton wasn't going to be involved in getting him out.

* * *

There was an email waiting for him when he got home. Not that he was surprised; Guster had emailed him every day for the past two weeks.

"Have you heard from Shawn?" it always read.

Carlton let the cursor hover over the 'reply' button.

"_Dear Mr. Guster,_

_Shawn is apparently in some sort of trouble with the Seattle PD. I'm trying to prove a point and therefore can't be bothered to help him out. _

_Best of luck,_

_The-Guy-Who-Pushed-Him-Away"_

Even Carlton could tell that probably wouldn't be the best message to send out.

He closed the laptop and went to bed.

* * *

Carlton took the next day off. He thought it slightly funny he'd never had the desire to stay away from work before. He was just tired of the questions.

Since when had Shawn become his responsibility anyway?

* * *

His phone rang just before noon. A glance at the caller ID told him it was the Chief; he answered immediately.

"Carlton," she began in a tone he didn't recognize. "I got a call from the Seattle Police Department. They've been trying to reach you…" Carlton winced. He'd ignored two more calls from them since the night before.

"Just remembered to take my phone off 'silent,'" he offered as an excuse. It concerned him immediately when she didn't proceed with a lecture on the importance of her head detective always being reachable.

"Shawn's been hurt." Carlton felt every organ in his body drop suddenly to his feet. "He got caught up in an armed robbery in Seattle. The gunman got jumpy…" Carlton sat heavily on his sofa.

"He's been shot," he whispered, knowing it before she could say it.

"He's stable, Carlton," Karen said on the other end. "He's being treated at Harborview Medical Center. He insisted you be the only one they called. They only called me because they knew you were SBPD and thought they could reach you at work."

Carlton found himself staring numbly across his living room a few minutes later. Karen had given him the details on who to contact once he got to Seattle. There were barely two hours until the flight.

Karen had booked it. "Shawn didn't pick up his last check; he's paying for it," she'd explained. "One of my men is in the hospital, _alone_, and you are going to fix that. Do I make myself clear, Detective?" Carlton hadn't been able to respond.

The phone in his hands buzzed again. Carlton blinked down at the incoming text.

"Chief says you're going on vacation!?!?" Juliet had sent. Her implied surprise was understandable.

Karen may not have had a problem ordering Carlton to Seattle, but she wouldn't violate Shawn's desire for privacy. Carlton couldn't decide if he respected that about her, or resented her for the double standard.

He shook his head to clear it of distractions and stared down at his phone. One hundred and nineteen minutes and he'd be on his way to Seattle. Three hundred after that and he'd be facing Shawn again.

He really needed to pack.

_Vacation?_ Carlton wanted to tell his partner that a 'vacation' was not something that ever happened in the presence of Shawn Spencer. Nothing about this trip would be relaxing or fun and he was likely to need a nap when it was all over.

He opened a new message with a resigned smile.

"Going to bring Shawn home."

/end


End file.
